Many of us have heard the saying “get the right people on the bus.” But is everyone in the right seat, and does everyone know where they are going? A team assembled without a proper task of responsibilities, and without a shared universal vision, may struggle to reach peak efficiency, even with technology and processes properly positioned to support the team.

Once a matter’s scope and budget are solidified, how can legal departments, law firms, and business partners build efficient and effective multidisciplinary teams who collectively work towards achieving defined outcomes and have a shared vision? Join us as our diverse panel of speakers walk through real-world client/firm encounters and provide insights into how your team can build effective cross-functional teams.

Despite the huge pressures placed on law firms in the last 18 months, most have remained flexible and resilient, which has, in many cases, resulted in strong profitability and growth. In the majority of cases, strong results have been down to firms increasing their focus on client communications, as well as making strict expense cuts from travel and entertainment to real estate overheads.

The question firms are now asking is – “how can profitability be sustained and even increased as we begin to return to “normal”? As staff move back into offices and expenses begin to creep up, profitability will once again rely on firm’s underlying processes and working practices.

Join BigHand’s Managing Director of Pricing and Profitability, Rob Stote, as he and a panel of legal pricing experts share insight and top tips across the areas of “People”, “Processes” and “Technology” to maintain and increasing profitability in 2021 and beyond.

Technology is the “easy” part of innovation—getting people to change mindsets and processes to drive true business transformation can be hard.  Our speakers will discuss the core components of change management, lessons learned on the ground in a law firm and a legal department, and best practices gleaned from years focusing on technology adoption in legal organizations.  Join our experienced panel as they discuss their adventures in change management!

Managing teams is both an art and a science.  In this one-hour panel session, you will learn from three business leaders who have been effectively managing teams for more than 30 years.  Topics will include the importance of creating a high-performance culture, how to hire the best members for your team, the advantage of having diversity in your team, and the importance of leading from the front.  The tactics covered in this session are universal and apply whether you are managing a 3-person team or 1000 employee organization.

People, process, and technology are all important components of project management in any industry, especially legal. Yes, processes must be developed and technology appropriately positioned to allow for efficient project management; but it is difficult to overstate the importance of an individual’s role in a robust LPM environment. This fact is becoming increasingly apparent based on the growing investment into project management positions for both law firms and clients alike.

Yet despite these investments into additional personnel by each party, both firms (65%) and law departments (64%) agree that an insufficient amount of communication and feedback is shared, according to a 2020 law department survey conducted by the Blickstein Group and the Legal Value Network.

As a matter’s scope evolves, how can legal departments, law firms, and business partners effectively manage scope, financial expectations, and resources, all while providing an appropriate level of communication, even when significant matter uncertainty exists?

Over the past decade, many large law firms have invested in teams specifically focused on innovation. The goal of these teams is arguably to introduce new tools, services, and processes to better serve clients and help the firm remain a strong market player, particularly in the face of “disruptive” business models evolving in the market.  Yet despite these investments, only 36% of legal department operations respondents to a 2020 Blickstein Group survey said they consider their law firms innovative and 90% said they would appreciate law firms approaching them more frequently with new legal service delivery models.

Join us as we discuss innovations in technology and business models that are the most exciting to consumers of legal services and hear our panelists’ perspectives on the most urgent areas of innovation for legal service providers to focus on in the coming years.

Intrapreneurs, as defined, are internal employees who use entrepreneurial skills and thinking to seek out initiatives that could benefit the organization financially. Members of the LVN community often function as intrapreneurs as we routinely engage in activities that require the skillsets and disciplines of an entrepreneur within our respective organizational environments.  Join us as we discuss the intrapreneur mindset and hear from our panelists who can provide unique examples of intrapreneurship at work within the law firm and legal departments.

You have heard the term “set it and forget it,” but the opposite cannot be more true for the legal pricing community. Pricing a legal matter is rarely a “point-in-time effort” that is over by developing an initial budget. Rather, it’s an ongoing, cooperative process between clients, law firms, and business partners to continue pricing a matter as the scope of work evolves. In a recent survey conducted by the Legal Value Network and the Blickstein Group, it was found that there appears to be a “clear intersection for firms and clients around managing budgets and managing demand,” but generally both sides “agree that communication is poor.” What arises from these two points is an opportunity for collaborative progress.

When a complex matter arises, how can legal departments, law firms, and business partners effectively develop (and maintain) a matter’s budget even when significant uncertainty exists? And where do clients perceive the most value from these conversations?

Join us as our diverse panel of speakers walk through real-world pricing discussions and provide tactics to help you better partner with your counterparts by building better budgets.